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Saturday, December 26, 2015

Carmine's Steakhouse - St Louis Missouri

You can find Carmine's Steakhouse in downtown St Louis at 20 S 4th St, St Louis, MO 63102, this is about a block away from the famous Gateway Arch and convenient to the Old Courthouse and Busch Stadium, as well as the junction of I64 and I44.

Carmine's is an old-school steakhouse featuring aged cuts of beef and an ambiance that would work well in New York or Chicago. There's an expansive bar, plenty of seating and also a patio for those wanting to people watch during lunch.

We came to Carmine's from Scottrade watching the Blues loose to the Flyers - great action at an exceptional venue. Carmine's was recommended to us by the cab driver and a fine recommendation it was.Our server was prompt and handed us a couple of menus - the alcohol menu was fairly extensive with four pages covering the various wines, house drinks and beers - I selected a quite good Deschutes Brewery Obsidian Stout and my dining companion went for a glass of red.

The food menu featured some interesting appetizers, Salads, Chicken, Steaks/Chops and Seafood. What intrigued me was the local favorite fried ravioli and we decided to split the appetizer (note that I had been warned that this local treat was "disgusting" - not my words). After trying it, I'm sorry but I simply can't recommend it here (and I'm betting that it's very well done at Carmine's). For me, the issue with the fried ravioli is that it contains beef - I think that if it were chicken or something a bit less fatty it would be fine. As it is, when you cut into the ravioli you're greeted by a greasy meatball surrounded by a lightly breaded ravioli pasta. The marinara did little to cut the grease and after eating one I couldn't stomach a second. Oh well, I was warned!

For dinner I selected the 10 oz Filet Mignon, inquiring about getting it black-and-blue (cold, rare guts with a bit of char on the outside). For a side I chose the broccoli sans the cheese sauce. The steak, while it could have had a bit more char it was indeed perfectly cooked temperature-wise. The broccoli wasn't anything special (maybe the cheese would have improved the dish? I almost asked for it on the side). I was passed a plate of mushroom risotto which was much better - I was just trying to save some of the calories and have something green.

Overall, I thought the steak was just about perfect, the sides mediocre and the appetizer yucky. However, based on the excellent beer and the steak, I still think this restaurant is worth visiting and giving a try, especially if you happen to be downtown. Also, the service was excellent - I don't remember the server's name but she was quick, answered our questions and was very patient with a couple of visitors to this fair city.

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About Me

I've been writing online about the things that interest me since about 1995 (back then I had 10 MB of free webspace on my internet provider) - I purchased my first domain, wildtoys.com in 1998, however the site actually started as part of my personal webspace via free provider around 1996. I'm very interested in Modern Design (Mid-Century is a particular favorite), the Space Race, movies and science fiction. I'm also an avid woodworker and vintage toy collection - especially Space Toys and Japanese Toys from the 70's and 80's (what we call Shogun Warriors in the US but what most of Asia refer to as Jumbo Machinders).

I have a number of websites and blogs - search by my name or handle, johnnyapollo